Little Women draws record crowd

The opening play of the expanded outdoor 2018 season at Lytham Hall last Sunday evening brought warm tributes to the cast from a bumper audience, as Chapterhouse Theatre Company presented Laura Turner’s adaptation of Little Women to an audience approaching 400.

Ticket sales were up by 50 per cent for the opening performance of the summer with 60 members of local Women’s Institute Groups and Fylde Soroptimists enjoying afternoon tea before the show. Julian Wilde, organiser of the Lytham Hall season, felt that the Lytham audience had responded sympathetically to the third show of Chapterhouse’s three month nationwide tour.

“The cast clearly enjoyed visiting Lytham Hall and used microphones again which meant they produced a first class performance and superb audibility. The audience cheered so much at the end that they had to take an extra bow.”

Hannah Warrington, 13, from Lytham, felt that Jo March, played by Maisie Young was her favourite character.

“She was very strong and independent minded,” she said, “ and reminded me of my younger sister Emily! ”

Julia Munro, 19, assistant organiser of the play season and a student at the Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts, was very pleased to meet LIPA graduate Maisie Young and also praised the performance.

“The scene with the death of Beth March was especially moving, with some of the audience in tears. It was a very thoughtful adaptation of Louisa Alcott’s novel and all eight members of the cast were brilliant,” she said.

Paul Lomax, deputy manager of Lytham Hall, was delighted with the quality of the pre-show performance by Lytham’s Guardian Concert Band, by the Chapterhouse cast and by the hard work of those who assisted with tickets, parking, refreshments and welcoming the audience.

“This was a real community effort and it was wonderful to have such a sizable audience for the first show of the summer,” he said.

The season now continues with the first visit of the season by Illyria who will present Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice on Sunday July 8.